HIV efforts in Africa stymied by ethics

[Guest guest]

HIV efforts in Africa stymied by ethics

Published: Dec. 16, 2007 at 12:53 PM

NDORI, Kenya, Dec. 16 (UPI) -- Health officials praise contraceptives

and anti-retroviral drugs in Africa as curtailing the spread of the

disease, but ethical concerns are delaying funding.

Humanitarian health officials said programs distributing anti-

retroviral drugs to pregnant women in African prevented more than

100,000 cases of pediatric HIV between 1999 and 2006, while

contraception prevented 173,000 such cases, The Washington Post

reported Sunday.

Political and financial rhetoric aimed at addressing the HIV epidemic

in Africa does not translate to actual funding as the issue is hung

up over the debate over birth control.

Officials say improving the availability of birth control in Africa

could save tens of thousands of lives more effectively and less

expensive than anti-retroviral drugs.

The U.S. Agency for International Development noted a reversal in the

once " spectacular decline " in fertility rates in Kenya due to

international funding for contraceptives and education awareness.

The support for such measures began to drop in 1996 when the

evangelical Christian movement gained influence in the Republican

Party and again in 2003 when the Bush administration refused to

support HIV programs that advocated birth control.

A United Nations estimate says 90 percent of the 2.5 million

childhood cases of HIV infection are in sub-Saharan Africa.

http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Top_News/2007/12/16/hiv_efforts_in_africa

_stymied_by_ethics/7341/

--- End forwarded message ---

[Guest guest]

HIV efforts in Africa stymied by ethics

Published: Dec. 16, 2007 at 12:53 PM

NDORI, Kenya, Dec. 16 (UPI) -- Health officials praise contraceptives

and anti-retroviral drugs in Africa as curtailing the spread of the

disease, but ethical concerns are delaying funding.

Humanitarian health officials said programs distributing anti-

retroviral drugs to pregnant women in African prevented more than

100,000 cases of pediatric HIV between 1999 and 2006, while

contraception prevented 173,000 such cases, The Washington Post

reported Sunday.

Political and financial rhetoric aimed at addressing the HIV epidemic

in Africa does not translate to actual funding as the issue is hung

up over the debate over birth control.

Officials say improving the availability of birth control in Africa

could save tens of thousands of lives more effectively and less

expensive than anti-retroviral drugs.

The U.S. Agency for International Development noted a reversal in the

once " spectacular decline " in fertility rates in Kenya due to

international funding for contraceptives and education awareness.

The support for such measures began to drop in 1996 when the

evangelical Christian movement gained influence in the Republican

Party and again in 2003 when the Bush administration refused to

support HIV programs that advocated birth control.

A United Nations estimate says 90 percent of the 2.5 million

childhood cases of HIV infection are in sub-Saharan Africa.

http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Top_News/2007/12/16/hiv_efforts_in_africa

_stymied_by_ethics/7341/

--- End forwarded message ---